


The Key to Hope

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Midnight Verse [31]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-07
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2017-12-31 18:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1035162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starscream's made a Key, and Midnight's ready to do what it takes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Key to Hope

Midnight looked at the imposing wall of machinery ahead of her. It looked like a more -- sinister? No, just more edged -- version of Teletraan-1. She then looked at Starscream, who was presenting her with a device already humming with energy. She almost regretted speaking up when her optics caught on Thundercracker's very blank expression, only the shade of his optics betraying his fear. 

Megatron surveyed the device Starscream had crafted for long moments, before he nodded once, a sharp motion. "You took thorough readings of the Key, my treacherous one," he rasped. "All it needs is the more primitive, arcane energy."

"If she is in danger, I will stop this experiment," Elita One said, her voice edged with warning, but it was obvious that Megatron wasn't listening to her. Nor was Midnight, who inspected both the wall and the Key, looking for how to connect it. 

"All she has to do is share her unique signature energy wave, briefly," Starscream responded, his tone all disdain for the femme leader's words. 

Midnight only half-heard his response, still inspecting the machinery. Her search finally led her to a depression near one of the more imposing control panels. It looked right, she decided, looking from the Key to it. All she had to do was place it in, maintain contact, and share her spark.

That was it.

::Not the way I wanted my first spark merge to go,:: she shot out across the frequency she shared with Thundercracker, both to bolster herself and to try and crack through his reserve, needing his reassurance.

::I won't let anything harm you,:: he answered, the send flavored with his own worry that he dared not show. ::And… after, when the fighting is ended, I'll show you how it should be.::

That thought pushed Midnight to action, her spark singing with the desire to do just that. She thrust the Key into place, willing herself to activate it. Nothing happened for a moment, and she threw a sharp thought towards the Matrix itself. //Come on, you made me for some reason, you relic… make it happen!//

`~`~`~`~`

Prime had been shooting baskets, Jazz and Prowl both to one side with a game of Stratego (made of larger pieces and a Cybertronian map) going. One minute he was laying up another shot, and the next he was flat on his back, his chestplates feeling tight and confined.

"PRIME!"

"Optimus!"

His lieutenants came to him swiftly, upsetting their own game in the rush to get there.

"Ratchet to the court," Prowl thought to call over comms, trying to be calm even as Optimus Prime made a strangled noise through his vocalizer. Their leader's hands scrabbled at his chest seam, fingers wedging in as it cracked slightly, helping push the plates open as the Matrix surged to the forefront of his chest.

"Get back," Prime managed to grind out as the artifact he had guarded since his remaking surged brightly, far brighter than his own spark. Prowl pulled Jazz's unwilling frame out of the way, just before a searing pulse of energy shot forth… and vanished in a ripple of space and time.

The Matrix subsided, dimming back to quiescence, leaving Jazz and Prowl mystified. Ratchet arrived just as Prime found the energy to actually close his chestplates, though the large mech remained where he had fallen.

"What in Primus's name?!" Ratchet demanded.

"Midnight," Optimus Prime said, his voice low and gravely concerned. "She called on the Matrix."

"What?" Jazz asked.

"How?" was Ratchet's demand.

"Why?" was all Prowl said, before Prime shuttered his optics. 

"That, I do not know. But the Matrix has answered her."

`~`~`~`~`

~Authority code recognized.~

Midnight felt the flood of power through her just moments before the wall of controls awakened from its long slumber. Her consciousness felt displaced, even though she was vaguely aware of the others stumbling back from the supercharge that had hit her from the Matrix.

~Action?~

Midnight had been told what should happen, in theory. Starscream and Ravage had been conferring heavily, shocking as that seemed, as the Key was built. Now, Midnight had all the tools and only needed to use them.

::Deactivate all drones assigned to Iacon City. Disengage all energy conduits from the Undercity to Iacon City. Isolate command nexus. Open ports seven through thirteen around the command nexus from the Undercity.::

The device manager took each command and began the process. ~Hostile forces located on both sides of all ports. Verify desired action.~

::One force, in the Undercity, seeks to regain Cybertron for rebuilding. The other, in Iacon, is preventing this and prolonging the state of civil war.:: Midnight felt each nanosec ticking by, her frame beginning to react poorly to the amount of energy the Matrix had given her. 

A searing, searching probe was initiated in her memory banks, the entire history of the war as told to her by her own people -- and what Thundercracker had told her -- read out of her into the ancient mainframe. When that was not enough information, a tendril snaked out of the wall, seeking the other faction present.

"Thundercracker, your cooperation is necessary for additional data," the control wall said in a flatter version of Midnight's voice.

"Do it," Starscream hissed, but Thundercracker hadn't even hesitated. He could see the dangerous spikes building in Midnight's fields, and if this meant she got disconnected sooner, he would do it. The tendril slotted into place, and he ground his dentaplates together against the search of his core being.

For long moments, the ancient computer did nothing, but Midnight could almost feel it deliberating, as the power charging her frame and spark wracked through her. 

~The future must be shaped by those who believe in hope.~ With those words, the master control obeyed the full commands given. The excess energy was pulled from Midnight into the Key as the tendril disengaged from Thundercracker.

"Go," Midnight told the others weakly as she slumped to the decking, her frame tinged with gray. "You won't have much time before power has to be restored in order to preserve the city's core, but the way is open."

Megatron needed no further urging, spinning away from her, but Elita One hesitated.

"Go," Thundercracker said, taking the few steps to the weakened femme's side. "I will guard her." Their optics met, Autobot leader and Elite Trine member appraising each other. Elita was satisfied by what she found, and she swept out on Starscream's heels to join the fight -- the last fight, Primus grant it -- against her old foe.

"TC?" Midnight asked, once the others were well away and could not overhear.

"Yes, Midnight?" He settled to where she could rest against him, and she promptly pressed into his space, tucking herself close against his frame.

"It's okay, you and me and who I am?"

Thundercracker snorted, lifting one hand to curve around her waist. "You're going to be my sparkmate. That's all that matters to me."

She let her optics fully fade out, trusting him to protect her, and rested from the overload her heritage and the ancient control panel had caused her. The battle would be over soon, and somehow she was certain Megatron and Elita One would be the victors.


End file.
